"What's Your Best Price?"

You're not him.

i agree with tvad that asking for "the best price" is highly correlated with not buying an item.

tvad, even though you and i have had our differences in the past, i respect you as a reasonable man and one of great intellect. your wisdom is evident in many of your posts.

if you are interested in the item, you might ask some questions, but the stronger your interest, the higher the probability that you will "bid" on the item, even if your price is less than the seller is willing to accept.

i would use, as a rule of thumb, a principle, i learned in my first economic course in college:

the value in use= the value in exchange., if i were to buy a used item.

i admit to having sold on audiogon, but i have never been a buyer.

Soon after reading this post I received an email (just yesterday) from a potential buyer with that god awful question "What is the absolute bottom dollar you would accept". Well I thought for a few moments as to how I should answer this, a smart a-- response or be nice. I took the nice route thinking I do want to sell these speakers and hey, you never know. Today I got the "thanks but I found something cheaper and closer. Most responses to this post agree that this question rarely ends in a sale and now I am a believer too, I'm going for the smart a-- response next time.

I have to add that on Head-Fi (and on other hobbyist sites) they do not have an eBay-like system that AudioGon has. So there is no way to "bid" on those items.

I take exception to suggestiong only the buyer gets to dictate pricing. I have not only asked a buyer what their best price is but have also been asked that question on an item I had for sale. In several instances, on both sides of the transaction, it has resulted in a completed transaction. I have an excellent reputation and have many references. I have 40+ transaction on Head-Fi and 100's of other on other hobbyist sited through the years. Many of which are high dolllar items. I'm hardly a newbie.

Ignoring anyone who asks for a best price only reduces the potential for sale. I prefer to expand all my potential options. It doesn't take that much time or effort to send an email or response. I've had people who never even discussed price, had me send many pics, ask many questions, commit to purchases only to flake out. There are many things in business transactions that are frustrating. That's just business. If I'm selling something, anyone is free to ask me any legit question they want. I promise I won't whine about it later. At least not publicly. LoL :)